Could I build a city there? (Coquille, Glendale: RV park, sale, motel)

[Terryj]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

and consider Idaho to find a natural Hot Springs (for heat and recreation). Much of downtown Boise is heated by 'real' geo-thermal. (Not ground / water-source heat pumps, which now market themselves as geo-thermal.) Oregon has quite a few Geo-thermal areas as well.

Buying an existing city is a very good idea, as it saves a lot of permit and infrastructure problems (neither are fast or cheap). Several cities in OR and the PNW have been 'acquired'. I'm looking at a small town in Kansas sand hills.

I remember a while back the town of Brothers, Oregon was for sale, I also think the town of Hampton Station, Oregon is currently for sale. There's not much in Hampton Station, a cafe and gas station, it mainly caters to hunters and a few who stop there on their way to Burns.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

There isn't enough water to support any sort of population, not even a very small population. That is why there is so much empty space in Eastern Oregon.

That's part of it but not the whole part. Where cities otherwise have a reason to exist we have found ways to get water to them. Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles have no local sources of water either. But in past centuries we invested in massive water projects to capture and transport water from the Colorado River to those urban areas. Much of Eastern Oregon is closer to the Columbia River than cities like Phoenix and Los Angeles are to the Colorado River and the Columbia has a LOT more water than the Colorado.

There are examples all over the world of cities built without adequate local water resources. Riyadh is a city of about 7 million that is supplied almost entirely by desalinated sea water pumped in from the Persian Gulf almost 500 km away.

If there were otherwise an economic reason to put a big city in Eastern Oregon and we were still living in the era of big public projects and empire building of say the 1930s then they would no doubt figure out how to get enough water out of the Columbia and Snake Rivers to make it happen just like they have done for most of the cities in the Southwest. It isn't just lack of water that explains why no big cities in eastern Oregon. There is just no economic reason for any cities to be out there. This isn't field of dreams where if you build it they will come.

[Larry Caldwell]

I looked it up, and Tiller apparently sold in January. It's a lovely setting, and if the new owners convert it to a destination resort there is no reason they can't make a go of it.

[sorupaa]

hawaii collects rain water, places like wamic get a lot of rain and has many rivers/ creeks ( its east of mt hood). this is my version of a city that collects rainwater.

[pnwguy2]

Interesting thread. I think the government land ownership does indeed prevent a lot of opportunities for new communities. One that I remember as a kid from the late 60's was Sun River, south of Bend. I remember my parents were prime sales targets for those trying to sell property there. As I understand it, the planned master community was much bigger than it actually turned out to be, but it has still been successful as a resort and "census location", but not a city.

[Phil P]

I just got back from visiting western Oregon. Initially I had this impression that the Willamette Valley was like an extention of Portland and there'd be ritzy wine resorts and beach homes covering the rest of the country side to California and eastern Oregon was the only frontier.

Was I wrong. Oregon is HUGE and there is so much undeveloped land on top of the millions of wilderness and national forest land. The central coast from Coos Bay to Florence wasn't even 'Breckenridgified', it seemed very middle class and oriented towards middle class tourists, a very nice change of pace from the glitzy condos and swank 4th homes that blanket CO ski towns. Going inland, I was shocked how sparsely populated the state was. I get that much of the coastal range, certainly towards the south is too steep to reasonably develop, but I was surprised that flatter and drier valleys like Coquille down to Powers were not more developed. If you wanted to 'start a town' you could just take Powers and give it some love. Even west of Eugene it seemed very rural where you could buy acreage for real cheap.

Basically, it looks like the entire state outside of the Portland area could easily handle quite a few more people, and the western side would present less challenges than the eastern side. That being said, the eastern side has plenty of areas of nice land for people who like arid environments. There's plenty of people who like cooler, drier areas (why a lot of people move to Colorado)and Eastern Oregon looks like someone took the Colorado Springs area geography and duplicated it over and over and over again.

[leastprime]

One issue with central Oregon is that you may be able to get water, but the ground is so porous that the septics endanger the water supply for everyone.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by Phil P

I just got back from visiting western Oregon. Initially I had this impression that the Willamette Valley was like an extention of Portland and there'd be ritzy wine resorts and beach homes covering the rest of the country side to California and eastern Oregon was the only frontier.

Was I wrong. Oregon is HUGE and there is so much undeveloped land on top of the millions of wilderness and national forest land. The central coast from Coos Bay to Florence wasn't even 'Breckenridgified', it seemed very middle class and oriented towards middle class tourists, a very nice change of pace from the glitzy condos and swank 4th homes that blanket CO ski towns. Going inland, I was shocked how sparsely populated the state was. I get that much of the coastal range, certainly towards the south is too steep to reasonably develop, but I was surprised that flatter and drier valleys like Coquille down to Powers were not more developed. If you wanted to 'start a town' you could just take Powers and give it some love. Even west of Eugene it seemed very rural where you could buy acreage for real cheap.

Basically, it looks like the entire state outside of the Portland area could easily handle quite a few more people, and the western side would present less challenges than the eastern side. That being said, the eastern side has plenty of areas of nice land for people who like arid environments. There's plenty of people who like cooler, drier areas (why a lot of people move to Colorado)and Eastern Oregon looks like someone took the Colorado Springs area geography and duplicated it over and over and over again.

A lot of the land you probably drove through in western Oregon, especially in the coast range, was probably public lands or private forest lands owned by big timber companies that cannot be subdivided or developed into housing. So it is legally impossible to develop rural Oregon to the same level of density that you might find in eastern states like say Vermont where everything is chopped up into smaller parcels and little towns. Everything in color on both of these maps is basically off limits for any kind of urban or rural development. The first map is of all the public lands in Oregon (forest, reservations, parks, wilderness, and rangeland). The second map is just the forest lands (both public and private). Take away all the colored areas and the state shrinks down quite a bit.

You want to put in a city or town or even a farm you need to find some place that is not colored on both maps and then you also need to deal with things like statewide land use planning that prohibits most kinds of development outside existing urban boundaries. Now you are down to an area about the size of Vermont or New Hampshire.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by Terryj

I remember a while back the town of Brothers, Oregon was for sale, I also think the town of Hampton Station, Oregon is currently for sale. There's not much in Hampton Station, a cafe and gas station, it mainly caters to hunters and a few who stop there on their way to Burns.

I love when people try to sell a small town roadside business. They don't just sell the business, they sell, The Town. LOL.

[Larry Caldwell]

There's always Wheeler County.